


Red Daisies

by thedepressedwriter



Series: Tales from Hogwarts and the Marauders (all from my instagram @marauderswriting) [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Tragedy, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Death, Domestic Fluff, Dorcas Meadowes - Freeform, F/F, Flowers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Lesbian Marlene McKinnon, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Summer, Summer Love, Tragic Romance, dorlene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:10:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29721885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedepressedwriter/pseuds/thedepressedwriter
Summary: A flower dream turned into a bloodied nightmare...taken from my one shots on Instagram @marauderswriting
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Tales from Hogwarts and the Marauders (all from my instagram @marauderswriting) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2159046





	Red Daisies

Red Daisies

Early June’s golden sunbeams filtered through the greyish clouds, warming the earth. Blooming flowers filled the air with their sweet aromas, and the last falling petals of apple and cherry tree blossoms danced in the light morning breeze. The garden surrounding the little cottage was filled to the brim with various flowers and plants. Fuchsia, white, and light pink peonies flowered amidst taffy heathers and colorful pansies. Here and there, the last bright red and sunny yellow tulips, as well as snowy white daffodils peeked between the bushes. Two magnolia trees cast their shadows over the very first hydrangeas and scarlet poppies. The magnolia’s delicate, blush petals trembled lightly with every little sway of the branches in the wind. A few cherry parfait roses were already flowering in their pots, and day-lilies blossomed next to a tiny white marble bench. In a corner of the garden, lavender, mint, rosemary, thyme, melissa, and verbena grew among other odorant plants. 

The cottage, painted white, stood peacefully in the back of the garden, surrounded by shrubs. Behind it, young saplings of Japanese maples and white birches were offering their fragile branches to the sun. The windows and doors of the small house were hand-painted with green and blue motives and beautiful lilacs fell over in riveting rivers of tiny purple blossoms over them, their playful shadows dancing along the walls. 

Peeking through the white lace curtains framing the windows, Marlene saw Dorcas dancing in the middle of the garden, barefoot, dressed in a long, light, embroidered white cotton dress. Her wild afro curls bounced on her back with her every movement, as she plucked peaches and apricots from the low hanging, heavy branches, placing them in her woven basket one after the other. Marlene smiled: there was nothing that brought her as much joy as seeing her girlfriend happy and worry-free, even during this wretched war. Reassured, she retreated into their room to change.

“Marls!” Called out Dorcas as she entered the cottage and placing the basket on the kitchen countertop. 

“Yes, love?” asked the blonde witch, somewhere from the second floor. 

“I know you have patrol in a few hours, but can we go for a walk? It is such a lovely, sunny day today, it would be truly a shame to miss the occasion.”

“We still have so much to do, Dorcas, and—“ replied Marlene as she walked down the stairs, fully dressed, but the curly-haired witch cut her off.

“Oh, come on! You need to relax,” she said hugging her tightly, massaging her shoulder. “It’ll be fun, and we can eat breakfast on the way. See? We have peaches, apricots, add some biscuits to that and we’ll be fine.”

Seeing as her girlfriend was still a bit hesitant, she kissed her softly on the lips.

“I promise, we won’t be late. Besides, you need to loosen up,” she added, tickling her. 

Marlene burst out into a fit of giggles and tried to tear herself away half-heartedly but couldn’t. 

“Fine,” she finally relented, placing a small peck on Dorcas’ cheek. “But I’ll blame you if Moody gets mad if I’m late.”

“Sure,” laughed the other witch, and hand in hand, they exited their cozy little home. 

Following a little river that ran through their garden’s pond, they arrived at a field filled with wildflowers. White chamomile, yellow marigolds, purple cornflowers, magenta bellflowers, golden meadow buttercups, and tiny yarrows, grew between the tall grass. Blue, yellow, white, and orange butterflies fluttered over the delicate flowers, striped bees buzzed over red and white clovers, and the golden-green vernal grass swayed gently back and forth in the breeze. Setting down her basket, Dorcas took Marlene by the hand, and dragging her behind her, ran across the field, twirling and spinning. Their laughs resonated in the empty meadow, in harmony with the chirping birds and the creaking of insects. Stopping, the curly-haired witch cupped her girlfriend’s face.

“Look around us, look how beautiful it is. This can be us after this stupid war is over, happy, free, in love! Hell! This _will_ be us! We can invite Lily and James, and Sirius, and Remus, and Peter, and Mary. Baby Harry will spend his first summers here, at our cottage, and we can bake apple pies and peach cobblers together. You will become a Healer like you always wanted, and I will finally be able to focus on magical painting. Just imagine, what it would be like to paint Professor Dumbledore for the Headmaster’s study,” she suspired dreamily. 

“I love you, Dorcas Meadowes,” whispered Marlene, kissing the tip of her nose softly. 

“I love you too, Marls.”

Looking down, she saw a large, gorgeous white oxeye daisy plant. The fragile, white petals quivered lightly around the yellow center, and the flowers slowly rocked in the zephyr. Dorcas sighed with joy, and gently cradling the bundle of flowers, conjured a small shovel, with which she dug out the plant, placing it then into her basket.

“Let’s head back and you can plant that next to the geraniums,” said the blonde witch, taking the basket from her girlfriend and throwing an arm over her shoulders. 

***

Slipping quietly into the house, Marlene took her polaroid camera and headed back outside where Dorcas was at work. She was kneeling on the grass, taking her time to properly plant the daisies. Leaning against the green door frame, the blonde witch started taking pictures. The camera clicked with every new polaroid taken. Looking at her watch, she saw that it was time for her to go. Throwing her leather jacket on, she kissed her girlfriend goodbye, and apparated away, leaving behind her polaroid camera on the marble bench.

***

It was raining heavily as Marlene, Sirius and Remus apparated back to the McKinnon cottage. Their patrol had been unusually eventless, and yet she still couldn’t shake off the bad feeling that had been haunting her ever since she had left Dorcas at home.

“You’re worrying needlessly,” said Sirius, trying to comfort her. “Mary is with Dorcas, they are both skilled witches, I’m sure they’re sitting and sipping tea while drawing or something.”

Despite that, Marlene accelerated, walking even faster than before. As they turned around an old oak tree, they saw an odd green light emanate from behind the hill, where the cottage was. The three of them were now running, their boots sinking into the mud, as the rain pattered loudly around them. Something was horribly wrong. 

Finally, they saw it. 

High up in the dark sky, amidst the swirling black clouds, an ugly green skull with twisting serpentine tongue. Sirius and Remus froze, taking out their wands, ready for a fight, but Marlene ran. It felt as if she was moving through quicksand, as pure terror gripped her heard, invading every inch of her body. The unknown, dark shapes lay on the grass in front of the cottage, surrounded by withered flowers. Pink petals were scattered everywhere, branches were splintered, some of the flowers’ stems were snapped neatly in half, ripe apricots and peaches lay mushed on the muddy, wet ground. And in the middle of this broken mess, lay the bodies of Dorcas Meadowes and Mary MacDonald, both dead. Marlene fell on her knees, wailing as her shoulders heaved up and down and her body was wracked by sobs. 

“NO!” Screamed Sirius behind her, trying to escape Remus’ arms, who held him back, gripping him tightly, tears streaming down his face. 

The blonde witch rocked her girlfriend’s lifeless body, gasping for air.

“YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME, DORCAS! I NEED YOU! YOU CANNOT DIE! NOT YET!” She wept. 

But Dorcas’ glassy eyes remained dark; the light of life was gone from them, forever. Next to them, a plant remained alive, its flimsy stems shaking violently in the harsh gusts of wind. It was the daisies, which the dead curly-haired witch had planted just this morning. Spatters of a dark red, viscous liquid which appeared to be blood stained the pristine white petals. The daisies had become red. Looking up, Marlene saw her Muggle polaroid camera reduced to a fizzing, broken mess. The last pictures of Dorcas were gone too.

***

A few days later, while she was cleaning the kitchen, Marlene found a piece of parchment. She immediately recognized the swirling fancy letters: it had been written by Dorcas. 

_Oh, Marls,_

_I am genuinely hoping you never have to read this letter, but I still wrote it, just in case. One can never be too sure during these times. I am so, so sorry._

The letter went on and on and on, and Marlene read every word with rapt attention, missing her, Dorcas Meadowes, her beautiful girlfriend, more with every sentence.

_I miss you so much, and I just wish that the world had granted us more time. Just remember that I love you, even now, even if I might not be there to show it to you, I still do. Promise me one thing Marlene, please, live your life to the fullest, don’t let this ruin your happiness forever._

_I love you so, so much Marlene McKinnon._

_Your girlfriend,_

_Dorcas Meadowes_

That was the moment when Marlene finally accepted, the cold, hard, bitter truth. She was dead. And little did either of them know, that she wouldn’t get the chance to live her life to the fullest either. 

**Author's Note:**

> One of my favourite things I've ever written!  
> Read and review!
> 
> b-bye, daya


End file.
